You do open CATEM offices in Washington: “The first union in Mexico approved by the T-MEC”

With the presence of the Mexican ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, the general secretary of the Autonomous Confederation of Workers and Employees of Mexico (CATEM), Pedro Haces, inaugurated the first offices of his union in Washington DC, in accordance with the treaty trade between Mexico, the US and Canada (T-MEC).

Haces Barba said that “the opening of these facilities in the US is the effort of women and men who for more than a decade have put their efforts into the empowerment of workers.” “Today, at CATEM we have more than 1,180 affiliated unions, with representation in the 32 states of the Mexican Republic,” said the union leader.

And he added that in recent years CATEM is setting the pace for Mexican trade unionism at the international level. “Recently we actively participated in the most important forums such as the Conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO); we held meetings with world leaders such as Sharan Burrow of the International Trade Union Confederation and Lech Walesa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate,” he said.

Likewise, Haces revealed that they had dialogues and signed collaboration protocols with unions in America and Europe, such as the UFCW of Canada and the United States; the UGT in Spain and the IG Metall in Germany. He revealed that because there is “a workforce of 35 million Mexicans who live and work” in the US, CATEM decided to open offices at 400-444 North Capitol St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001.

In that address, the countrymen will be attended in terms of labor rights as part of the cooperation between both nations. The CATEM leader stated that Mexican human capital will be promoted in these offices, “since the need for qualified labor in the US is undeniable -as President López Obrador has said- and the quality of the work they carry out is also unquestionable.” the Mexicans”.

“In this way, we will be a facilitator to have a labor migration attached to what is stipulated by the Customs and Border Protection Service, the Immigration and Citizenship Service of the United States and in alliance with the employers of the American Union, for the benefit of the productivity and to avoid all the risks of migrating without documents,” said Pedro Haces.

López Obrador went to the Pedro Haces union congress and distanced himself from Napoleon

For his part, Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma highlighted the initiative of Haces to install these offices in support of Mexican workers, whether they are migrants or residents. And he recalled that the Government of López Obrador has been concerned since its inception in support of Mexican workers through the signing of the T-MEC.

It should be noted that the inauguration took place prior to the visit of the President of Mexico to Washington DC, at the proposal of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, which will take place over the next two weeks.

The event was attended by Samantha Tate, in charge of monitoring and implementing the T-MEC in the United States Department of Labor; Yanira Merino, national president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, which represents Latinos within the AFL CIO and other labor organizations; Sergio Gómez Lora, representative of the Business Coordinating Council, in Washington DC, among others.